| NSF Org: |
DGE Division Of Graduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 29, 2009 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | April 17, 2014 |
| Award Number: | 0903622 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Laura Regassa
DGE Division Of Graduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | August 1, 2009 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2015 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $2,992,413.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $2,992,413.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2010 = $600,000.00 FY 2011 = $600,000.00 FY 2012 = $1,200,000.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
506 S WRIGHT ST URBANA IL US 61801-3620 (217)333-2187 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
506 S WRIGHT ST URBANA IL US 61801-3620 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | IGERT FULL PROPOSALS |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001011DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001112DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001213DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 04000910DB NSF Education & Human Resource 04001011DB NSF Education & Human Resource 04001112DB NSF Education & Human Resource 04001213DB NSF Education & Human Resource |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
This Integrative Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) project will educate a diverse cadre of neuroscientists and engineers at the University of Illinois with an advanced understanding of both neuroscience and engineering, enabling them to engage in both sophisticated collaboration and independent research across the traditional gap between these domains. Many of the most important and exciting scientific and technological challenges for the future are centered on neuroscience, the study of the brain. Many recent (and most future) advances in understanding the brain depend on engineering new technologies for sensing, imaging, and analyzing the brain and their innovative use by neuroscientists. Similarly, some of the greatest and most important technological challenges, such as creating neural prostheses for the disabled, require engineers with a profound understanding of neuroscience. IGERT students will thus carry out innovative interdisciplinary research on neuroscience areas of great scientific and engineering importance, such as speech and audition, brain and imaging, and neural implants that may lead to revolutionary advances in understanding the brain and in new technologies such as neural prostheses for the disabled. IGERT trainees will also receive training in leadership, communication skills, and the responsible conduct of research as well as preparation for academic or industrial careers. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Some of the most societally important and intellectually difficult challenges in all of science lie at the intersection of neuroscience and engineering: for example, improved understanding of neural and brain function largely depends on new imaging technologies such as fMRI, whereas continued progress in engineered systems requires making them more human-like in their intelligence and adaptability. The Neuroengineering Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) educated more than 50 postgraduate fellows and affiliates via a novel interdisciplinary curriculum at the interface of engineering and neuroscience. This highly innovative and effective curriculum establishes a new, effective, and practical approach for interdisciplinary postgraduate education that rigorously prepares students for sophisticated interdisciplinary research while still allowing ordinary progression in their home discipline.
The new interdisciplinary educational model uses a three-course sequence to be completed within the first two years. The first stage is novel introductory courses in the other discipline especially tailored to exploit students’ sophistication in their home disciplines. The second course mainstreams students in a standard course in the other discipline, thereby exposing and embedding them in the knowledge and, critically, culture of the other discipline. The sequence culminates in a semester-long research project course requiring interdisciplinary teams of students to identify and address a significant, publishable research problem, thereby both developing interdisciplinary research skills and effective collaboration with experts from the other domain.
The Neuroengineering IGERT produced many important research advances only possible through sophisticated collaboration of interdisciplinary researchers. Some of the accomplishments are:
- Simultaneous dynamic and functional MRI of speech allowing study of movements of vocal organs and the neural activity initiating or controlling them.
- A new approach for optimizing the array design of optical sources and sensors for Event Related Optical Signal (EROS) imaging of brain activity.
- Development of a feedback information-theoretic approach to designing Brain-machine interfaces with experimental work using EEG signals.
- Development of stretchable (flexible) electrodes that can conform to curvilinear surfaces of the human body, and organs such as the surface of the brain.
- Development of models of semantic processing.
- Neural correlates and cognitive effects of video game-based activity and training.
- Joint multi-modal imaging (optical, event-related potentials, and fMRI) of neurovascular processes in normal aging.
- A low-cost prosthetic hand for amputees in developing countries.
- Development of a novel neural coding theory based on engineering source-coding theory. This development can lead to improved brain-machine interfaces, such as speech coding in cochlear implants.
Last Modified: 09/26/2016
Modified by: Douglas L Jones
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